Dorris, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, was one of the many Marines who were killed in action against the Viet Cong force after unhesitatingly exposing himself to ensure his Marines would have enough time to get to their positions. Despite his position in the firefight, Dorris saw an injured Vietnamese boy and managed to perform first aid on him. Shortly after, Dorris was killed by an enemy rocket round. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic actions that day.

Eric Schregardus, Dorris’ son, said his father was a courageous man who took every opportunity to help the Vietnamese people.

“He never forgot that we were in Vietnam to help the South Vietnamese, and had actually written to my mom about how hard it was to see villagers treated badly,” Schregardus said. “So, when the chance to work in close concert with the Vietnamese, teaching them to protect their own village, came up, he jumped at the chance.”

Not only did Dorris fight for people overseas, he fought to save lives in his hometown, too.

“He once stopped on the way home from work at a car accident and helped render first aid before the ambulance arrived, resulting in quite a shock to my mom when he came home covered in blood,” Schregardus said.

Boyce decided to rename the barracks after Dorris because of his initiative and complete devotion to saving people, on and off duty. The barracks will ensure Dorris’ courageous actions in Vietnam never be forgotten – something that Schregardus said he finds important.

“I am sad to have lost my father at such a young age, but proud of the sacrifice he made for the men in his unit and the village boy he saved,” Schregardus said. “So, in the simplest terms, I am glad that somewhere that sacrifice will be memorialized.”

One of the many reasons why (after too many years) I’m so proud to be part of this brotherhood called the U.S. Marine Corps.. Marines like SSgt. Dorris always gave more than they got never putting himself before others. He was one of standards set for all of us to follow. I’m sorry for your loss of a very good man. R.I.P. Marine.

Semper Fi SSgt Doris. all of us will be seeing you when our time comes. Then we can have our beer bust. Was station there with HQ 3rdMarDiv in 1979 working in the communications center. My daughter was born while I was there.

THE REAL STOTY of How 1st Battalion, 9th Marines Got the Name “THE WALKING DEAD”. In March of 1965, my existing battalion 3/1 First Marine Division, shipped out of San Diego on a South Pacific cruise as a member of a newly reactivated unit known as 1/9, we stopped in Okinawa for training in various tactics. We all knew our “cruise” was going to end in Vietnam, and it did, we landed at Da Nang harbor on 17 June 1965. I was the Squad Grenadier, and Squad Radioman, in first Squad, first Platoon, Bravo Company. We had our share of firefights, lost some good Marines, and eliminated a large number of “Cong”. In early February, 1966, while preparing for our evening patrol, someone had Hanoi Hanna on the radio: She said “You boys in 1/9 need to lay your weapons down and go home. Uncle Ho and General Giap have decided that you have caused so many casualties on the Vietnam Liberation Front, that they are sending down a division of the Peoples Republic Army to innilalate you. You can consider your selves (Walking Dead)”. She then played song dedicated to us. It was by Martha and the Vandela’s called “No Where to Run, No Where to Hide”. Well being young, full of piss and vinegar, we said to our selves “Send the bastards down”. From that point until I was rotated back to the World, Bravo Company stopped operating in company force and started operating in Squad size forces, and we stepped up our kill rate dramatically. Some years after the war, I saw that the Corps was saying we got the name because of the number of our men that got killed. The number they show is accurate, the percentage is not. 1/9 was there for around 4 1/2 years replacements and rotation would have made the total number of individuals to serve in 1/9 during the war somewhere around 7,000, not 1,000 that the Corps used to get ot’s figure of 93.7%.